In the Bull of Indiction of the Great Jubilee of the Year
2000 Incarnationis Mysterium (IM) the Holy Father fixed the dates for
the beginning and the closing of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. "I
therefore decree that the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 will begin on
Christmas Eve 1999, with the opening of the Holy Door in Saint Peter’s
Basilica in the Vatican ..." (IM 6).

In view of the importance of the Jubilee marking the two
thousandth anniversary of the Birth of the Saviour, it was the Holy Father’s
wish that, for the first time in the history of the Jubilee, the Pope should
personally open not only the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica but also those
of the other three Patriarchal Basilicas of Rome.

In the Bull Incarnationis Mysterium the Pope also
fixed the closing date of the Great Jubilee. The Jubilee experience of grace
and mercy is to continue "until the closing of the Holy Year on the day
of the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ, 6 January 2001" (IM 6).

The conclusion of the Great Jubilee will thus be marked by
the closing of the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica by the Holy Father on 6
January 2001. This closing will be preceded, on the vigil of the Epiphany, by
the closing of the Holy Doors of the other three Roman Basilicas: Saint John
Lateran, Saint Paul Outside the Walls and Saint Mary Major.

The Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica, as the first to be
opened, signaled the beginning of the Great Jubilee. As the last to be closed,
it will mark the end of the Jubilee.

In the Particular Churches too, the Holy Year will conclude
on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, in accordance with the
directives issued by the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year
2000. (2)

II. the ritual to be used

As was the case last year for the rite of the opening of the
Holy Door, the Office for Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has
updated the rite of its closing.

In the work of revision certain basic elements were kept in
mind: the traditional ritual, the noble simplicity of the rites and the
participation of the faithful as called for by the Second Vatican Council, and
the symbol of the door which will remain closed until the next Holy Year.

1. The traditional rite of closing

The first closing of a Holy Door for which historical and
ritual documentation exists is that of the Basilica of Saint Peter at the end
of the Holy Year of 1500. No sure information is extant from earlier
celebrations.

We know from the famous Master of Papal Ceremonies, John
Burckard, that the rite of closing of the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica
was celebrated on 6 January 1501.

The ritual, prepared by Burckard and approved by the Pope,
was, save for the subsequent introduction of a few minor changes,
substantially followed in all later Jubilees.

The following were the ritual sequences at which the Pope
presided according to the Cerimoniale of the sixteenth century:

— an entrance procession through the Holy Door and the
celebration of Vespers in the Vatican Basilica;

— the sending forth of the Cardinal Legates to close the
Holy Doors in the other Basilicas;

— a procession towards the Holy Door with a pause for the
exposition and the veneration of relics;

— the departure of the procession from the Basilica. The
Pope was the last to pass through the Holy Door;

— the blessing and the sprinkling with holy water of the
stones and the bricks in the atrium;

— the use of a trowel to spread the mortar at three points
of the sill of the Holy Door and the setting of three bricks together with
some gold and silver coins. From 1575 on, the gold and silver coins were
placed in an urn set into the door;

— the setting of other bricks by the Major Penitentiary and
the other Penitentiaries and the conclusion of the work of closing by the
masons, both outside and inside the Basilica, as the choir chanted the hymn Cœlestis
Urbs Ierusalem;

— Following the prayer Deus qui in omni loco, the
Pope concluded the rite by intoning the hymn Te Deum and then ascended
to the Loggia of the Blessing, where he imparted the solemn Apostolic
Blessing.

2. The changes of 1975

The sixteenth century ritual, as mentioned above, continued
to be used in its essential elements for all the Jubilees until 1975.

At Christmas 1975, the rite of closing the Holy Door was
modified. Pope Paul VI no longer commenced the rebuilding of the brick and
masonry wall but simply closed the two sides of the bronze door. The door,
which until that time had been inside the Basilica, was now placed on the
outside, as we see it today. Two months later, the brick and masonry wall,
which had until then sealed the door on the outside, was erected on the inside
of the Basilica; in it was inserted the traditional box containing coins and
the parchment document attesting the closure.

The 1975 changes not only rendered obsolete some typical
elements of the traditional Cerimoniale such as the trowel, the mortar,
the bricks and the holy water, but also altered the underlying symbolism of
the Holy Door: henceforth there was no longer a wall to tear down or rebuild,
but a door to open and close. The symbolism of the wall was replaced by that
of the door, which was more significant from a social, historical and biblical
point of view.

On Christmas Eve 1975, the rite of closing the Holy Door was
celebrated in three segments: in the Basilica, in the atrium and in the
Square. The rite took place according to the following plan:

— Entrance into the Basilica through the Saint Martha Door
and a pause for prayer in front of the Confession of Saint Peter;

— Procession through the Basilica and departure from the
Holy Door to the chanting of the Laudes Regiæ. The Holy Father was the
last to walk through the Holy Door;

— Opening rites in the atrium: the liturgical greeting; an
introduction; invocations addressed to Christ and concluding with the Kyrie
eleison, Christe eleison; a collect prayer;

— Silent prayer by the Holy Father kneeling at the threshold
of the Holy Door;

— the chant of the antiphon O Clavis David as the
Holy Father went from his chair to the Holy Door;

— The Pope then intoned the hymn Gloria in excelsis Deo
and processed to Saint Peter’s Square for the celebration of Holy Mass.

In 1984 the closing of the Holy Door took place on Easter
Day after the celebration of Mass in Saint Peter’s Square and the
Blessing "urbi et orbi". The rite, from the initial prayer until the
closing of the sides of the door, faithfully followed the 1975 rite.

3. The rite to be used in 2001

The rite of closing the Holy Door will take place in two
distinct stages: the actual rite of closing, which will take place on the
Solemnity of the Epiphany, and the walling up of the Holy Door on the inside
of the four Basilicas, which will take place several weeks later.

1. The rite of closing on the
Solemnity of the Epiphany

As mentioned above, on the afternoon of 5 January, the Vigil
of the Epiphany, the Holy Doors of the three Patriarchal Basilicas will be
closed by Cardinal Legates: Cardinal Camillo Ruini will close the door of
Saint John Lateran; Cardinal Roger Etchegaray will close the door of Saint
Paul Outside the Walls; and Cardinal Carlo Furno will close the door of Saint
Mary Major. The rite of closing will be followed by the celebration of First
Vespers of the Epiphany.

The next day, the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, the
Holy Father will close the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica; the ceremony
will begin at 9:30 a.m. This closing will mark the conclusion of the Jubilee
Year 2000.

The rite of closing the door, while preserving the nobility
proper to the Roman rite, differs from the rite of opening celebrated last
year by the marked simplicity which characterizes its texts and ritual
sequences. The gesture of closing a door does not, of itself, have the same
rich significance as that of opening a door.

a) The
stages of the rite

The following rites will characterize the closing of the
Holy Door in Saint Peter’s Basilica:

The Holy Father vests as usual in the nearby sacristy of the
Basilica. The servers, a group of laypersons from the various continents, the
deacons and the Cardinal concelebrants gather in the Braccio di Costantino,
from which the procession to the Holy Door commences at 9:30 a.m. The Holy
Father enters the procession from his own sacristy. During the entrance
procession the choir sings Psalm 95 with the antiphon Venite, adoremus eum,
quia ipse est Dominus Deus noster. All take their places in the seats
arranged in the atrium of the Basilica, in front of the Holy Door.

The Holy Father, after taking his place at the chair, begins
the celebration with the sign of the cross, a trinitarian invocation, the
liturgical greeting and an introduction. A prayer follows.

He then goes to the Holy Door as the choir sings the
antiphon O Clavis David.

The Holy Father ascends the steps, kneels at the threshold
and prays in silence. He then rises and silently closes the two sides of the
door. Descending, he stands in front of the closed door while the choir and
the assembly sing the acclamation: Christus heri et hodie, Finis et
Principium; Christus Alpha et Omega. Ipsi gloria in sæcula! The choir and
the assembly continue the singing of the hymn as the procession moves to the
altar.

Once the procession has reached the front of the altar, the
Book of Gospels is enthroned: the deacon places the Book on its throne, the
laity from the different continents set their lamps and flowers before the
Book of Gospel and the Holy Father incenses the Book.

The choir and the assembly then chant the hymn Gloria in
excelsis Deo.

After chanting the Gospel, the deacon chants the
proclamation of the date of Easter.

Following the prayer after Communion, the Holy Father
briefly introduces the Te Deum, which is chanted by the choir and the
assembly.

The celebration of Holy Mass then concludes with the usual
solemn Apostolic Blessing.

b) Particular
features of the rite and their significance

The following are the most expressive ritual moments in the
rite of closing of the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica, which marks the
conclusion of the Jubilee.

The rite begins by giving glory to the Blessed Trinity

— The Holy Father, standing in front of the door, recites a
trinitarian invocation, in which he worships and gives thanks to the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit for their many gifts. The assembly intervenes each
time with the acclamation "Blessed be the Lord for ever". This
highlights the fact that the celebration of the Jubilee was meant "to
give glory to the Trinity, from whom everything in the world and in history
comes and to whom everything returns" (Tertio Millennio Adveniente,
55).

Christ the one door to salvation

— The antiphon chanted just before the closing of the door, O
Clavis David et sceptrum domus Israel: qui aperis et nemo claudit; claudis et
nemo aperit: veni et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris et
umbra mortis, an antiphon typical of the Advent season, emphasizes that
Christ is the key, the centre and the goal of each human being and of all
history. He is the Lord of time, its beginning and its fulfilment, the One who
was, who is and who constantly comes to save us (cf. Rev 4:8).

— The acclamation Christus heri et hodie, Finis et
principium; Christus Alpha et Omega. Ipsi gloria in sæcula!, sung already
at the time of its opening, will be sung once again in front of the closed
door. These are the words which the Holy Father has proposed as a synthesis of
the Jubilee. They point to the door as the symbol of Christ, the Lord of
history, present in his Church until the end of time (cf. Heb 13:8).

— The hymn to Christ, the Lord of the Millennia, composed
for the occasion, will be sung after the closing of the Holy Door, as the
procession makes its way towards the altar. The refrain is the same as that
sung in the rite of opening. The entire hymn emphasizes the eschatological
significance of the door; it is an invitation to await with good works the
time when each of us, at the end of our earthly pilgrimage, will arrive at the
gates of heaven.

The year of grace continues in the Church

— The proclamation of the date of Easter and the holy days
which flow from it, chanted after the chanting of the Gospel, takes on a
special meaning in the celebration of conclusion of the Holy Year. The Holy
Year, the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, draws to a close, but the year of
grace proclaimed by the Lord Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth continues in
the yearly cycle by which the Church celebrates in the Liturgy the saving work
of her Lord, as she waits in joyful hope for his return in glory.

— The various intentions of the Prayer of the Faithful are
meant to call to mind the great events of grace which the Church has
celebrated and experienced during the Jubilee, so that the Jubilee experience
can continue to enrich her journey towards the Kingdom.

The rite ends by praising God, the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit

— The ancient hymn Te Deum, traditionally a part of
the closing rite of the Jubilee in Rome, is chanted by the choir and the
assembly as a summation of the countless moments of grace and prayer,
thanksgiving and praise, which the Church throughout the world constantly
offered to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit, during the course
of the Holy Year.

2) The walling up of the Holy Door

At Christmas 1975, when the Holy Year concluded by the
closing of the two sides of the Holy Door rather than the building of the
brick and masonry wall, there was a desire not to eliminate completely the
traditional rite involving the construction of the brick wall and the setting
therein of the urn which contained a number of coins and a parchment document.
As mentioned above, this wall was raised two months later on the inside of the
Basilica; the Holy Door was thus closed from the outside by the two bronze
panels and from the inside by the traditional brick and masonry wall. The
center of the wall was marked by the traditional sign of the cross indicating
the place where the bronze urn had been placed.

This 1975 rite, replicated exactly in 1984, will again be
celebrated in 2001. The rite is scheduled to be carried out by the end of
January, 2001.

The stages of the rite

Traditionally, the rite contained the following elements:
the reading of the parchment document; the placement in the urn containing the
coins and the document; the setting of the box in the wall of the Holy Door,
the reading of the "Rogito" attesting the event. In 2001 the rite,
together with these elements, will be enriched by an initial prayer to the
patron saint of the Basilica, by some songs, the Our Father and a
concluding Blessing. The Office for Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme
Pontiff has prepared the rite to be celebrated in the four Basilicas.

The bricks

The bricks to be walled in the doorway bear an inscription
in Latin containing the name of the Pope or the Cardinal Legate who opened and
closed the door, as well as the date of the Holy Year. (3)

The urn and its contents

In 1975 four different urns were prepared, one for each of
the Holy Doors of the four Basilicas.(4) In 1984,
however, the urn, created by Tommaso Gismondi, was the same for each Basilica.
For 2001 four different urns have been cast, one for each Basilica. The urns
were made by: MATTHIAS MARIA HEIERMANN (Germany) for the Basilica of Saint
Peter; KYOSI NAGATANI (Japan) for the Basilica of Saint John Lateran; OTELLO
SCATOLINI (Italy) for the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls; and MARIA
ANTONIETTA DE MITRIO (Italy) for the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.

Each urn will also contain:

a number of medals: a gold medal of the twenty-third
year of the Pontificate of His Holiness Pope John Paul II (2000-2001); twenty
three silver medals, corresponding to the twenty three years of the Papacy
(1978-2001); and seventeen bronze medals, commemorating the seventeen years
which have elapsed since the last Holy Year (1984-2001);(5)

a parchment document, attesting the opening and
closing of the Holy Door and bearing the signatures of those present at the
rite.

III. The Holy Door, a memorial of the Jubilee

As Jesus proclaimed "a year of grace from the
Lord" in the synagogue of Nazareth, "the eyes of all where fixed on
him" (Lk 4:20).

Since Christmas Eve 1999, our eyes too have been fixed on
the Pope and on the Holy Door. So too were the eyes of thousands of pilgrims
who came to Rome from every part of the world, who with devotion and
recollection came forward each day to pass through the Holy Door in order to
hear the Word of the Lord and to celebrate the mysteries of salvation in union
with the Successor of Peter.

Thanks to the images transmitted by television, the eyes of
the Church and the world continue to be fixed on the great experience of the
Jubilee.

On 6 January 2001 the Holy Year will conclude and our eyes,
the eyes of the pilgrims, and the television cameras will all be fixed on the
closed Holy Door. What message will that closed door have for the Church and
for us?

The door should be a memorial which accompanies us and
precedes us in the pilgrimage of our lives.

The Jubilee indeed is drawing to a close, but the year of
grace proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth continues in the life of the Church and
in the personal life of each believer.

After the closing, the images sculpted on the sixteen panels
of the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica, now once more clearly visible to
all, will testify to the Jubilee experience. They speak of the history of
salvation and in particular of a gracious God filled with love for mankind.
Man, after his expulsion from Paradise, is a pilgrim in constant pilgrimage in
search of a meaning and a goal for his life. But we do not journey alone; the
scenes represented on the door remind us that, in Christ who is like us in all
things except sin, God has become our traveling companion, to make our
pilgrimage a journey of conversion and of return home to the Father.

To look at the door, then, means to look beyond it, to look
for a different space and time, another dimension, a goal which lies beyond
the limits of this world: it means in other words to seek God, until our
pilgrimage leads us to the door of heaven, which Lord himself will open and
invite us to enter the wedding feast in his company.

"The eyes of all were fixed on him". After the
conclusion of the Holy Year, may we continue to keep our eyes fixed on the
door which is Christ and may we deepen communion with the Successor of Peter,
lest we be diverted from the journey which leads to heaven’s door.

Vatican City, 20 December 2000

(1) Detailed
information on the history and significance of the ritual sequences of the
opening and the closing of the Holy Door may be found in the article,
"Apertura della Porta Santa. Indicazioni rituali", in L’Osservatore
Romano, Wednesday, 15 December 1999, pp. 5-6.

(5) In addition to the
aforementioned medals and the parchment document, the box of the Holy Door of
Saint Peter’s Basilica, in accordance with an ancient custom, will also
contain a commemorative medal of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and
three gilded bricks bearing the coat of arms of Pope John Paul II.